Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2021;1326:139-157. doi: 10.1007/5584_2021_619.
Stem cells play a pivotal role in the developmental stages of an organism and in adulthood as well. Therefore, it is not surprising that stem cells constitute a focus of extensive research. Indeed, several decades of stem cell research have tremendously increased our knowledge on the mechanistic understandings of stem cell biology. Interestingly, revealing the fundamental principles of stem cell biology has also fostered its application for therapeutic purposes. Many of the attributes that the stem cells possess, some of which are unique, allow multifaceted exploitation of stem cells in the treatment of various diseases. Cancer, the leading cause of mortality worldwide, is one of the disease groups that has been benefited by the potentials of therapeutic applications of the stem cells. While the modi operandi of how stem cells contribute to cancer treatment are many-sided, two major principles can be conceived. One mode involves harnessing the regenerative power of the stem cells to promote the generation of blood-forming cells in cancer patients after cytotoxic regimens. A totally different kind of utility of stem cells has been exercised in another mode where the stem cells can potentially deliver a plethora of anti-cancer therapeutics in a tumor-specific manner. While both these approaches can improve the treatment of cancer patients, there exist several issues that warrant further research. This review summarizes the basic principles of the utility of the stem cells in cancer treatment along with the current trends and pinpoints the major obstacles to focus on in the future for further improvement.
干细胞在生物体的发育阶段和成年期都起着至关重要的作用。因此，干细胞成为广泛研究的焦点也就不足为奇了。事实上，几十年来的干细胞研究极大地增加了我们对干细胞生物学机制理解的认识。有趣的是，揭示干细胞生物学的基本原理也促进了其在治疗目的上的应用。干细胞所具有的许多特性，其中一些是独特的，允许多方面地利用干细胞来治疗各种疾病。癌症是全球死亡率的主要原因之一，是受益于干细胞治疗应用潜力的疾病群体之一。虽然干细胞如何有助于癌症治疗的作用方式有很多种，但可以设想两个主要原则。一种模式涉及利用干细胞的再生能力，在细胞毒性治疗后促进癌症患者产生造血细胞。另一种模式则是利用干细胞以肿瘤特异性的方式潜在地输送大量抗癌治疗药物。虽然这两种方法都可以改善癌症患者的治疗效果，但仍存在一些需要进一步研究的问题。这篇综述总结了干细胞在癌症治疗中的基本原理，以及当前的趋势，并指出了未来需要关注的主要障碍，以进一步提高治疗效果。
